Pomperaug High School’s Grant Wallace, No. 31, battles Masuk’s Mike Slattery for a rebound in the Feb. 6 home game. (Ken Morse photo)
By KEN MORSE Special to the Middlebury Bee Intelligencer
Resilient teams find a way to put a game into the win column even when they are not at their best. The Pomperaug boys basketball team did just that Saturday, Feb. 6, bouncing back from a tough 66-50 loss to Notre Dame of Fairfield Tuesday, Feb. 2, by grinding out a 65-56 win over Masuk Saturday in overtime and improving to 12-3 on the season.
“Masuk is a really good team regardless of their record,” said senior tri-captain Grant Wallace, who pulled down 10 rebounds and chipped in with seven points. Coming out of halftime we knew we were playing a little lazy, so in the second half we focused on picking up our intensity.”
Pomperaug got right after it, bolting to an early 9-2 advantage. But Masuk played Pomperaug tough at their place Jan. 8, when the Panthers emerged with a four-point win.
Cameron Kovachik (21 points) provided a spark that ignited a 12-0 Masuk run and put the visitors on top 14-9 heading into the second quarter.
The Panthers regrouped a little bit to outscore Masuk 15-10 and make it a low-scoring 24-24 deadlock at the halftime break.
“We played Pomperaug tough the first time around at our place,” said Masuk head coach Peter Szklarz. “Playing on their home court this time, I felt they had the advantage. We fought hard to get back in the game, but we gave them second and third chances at the basket, and you can’t do that against a good team like Pomperaug.”
The third quarter didn’t get off to a positive start, as both teams struggled to find some consistency. Masuk ended up with a 10-8 advantage to take a 34-32 lead. Then, in the fourth quarter, the intensity of the game picked up.
“I warned my guys that this Masuk team plays tough,” said Pomperaug head coach Dave Yachtis. “They went down and played a really tough Amity team and gave them a battle, and then they went up and beat a very good Barlow team by 20 points.
“You can’t fall asleep on these guys. We played really flat for a better part of three quarters and then turned it on, especially in overtime.
“Then you ask yourself why couldn’t we do that the entire game? Maybe it was the change in schedule from a Friday night to a Saturday. Whatever it was, it took us almost three-quarters of the game to get going.”
Matt Wynne and Jacob Mendicino scored buckets, but the offense didn’t start to click until the final quarter. Rich Pugliese (12 points) hit a pair of foul shots with 2:25 to play to open up a 49-43 advantage before Masuk battled back.
“We weren’t moving the ball quick enough in the first half,” said senior tri-captain Pugliese. “We had no ball movement. Basically we were sitting ducks. Once the fourth quarter started, we picked up the intensity.”
Pomperaug went scoreless over the final two minutes, allowing Masuk to get back in the game. But it didn’t come without some heroics. Masuk senior guard Pat Ryan delivered in crunch time, hitting two foul shots with no time left on the clock to tie the game at 49-49 and send it to overtime.
“That was our wake-up call,” said senior tri-captain Noah Miree, who scored a season-high 21 points to lead the Panthers to victory. “We were upset with the loss to Notre Dame, especially since we will no doubt see them again in the South West Conference tournament, and we will need a much better performance. So maybe we came into this game not as focused as we should have been. But once we went to overtime we just picked up our intensity and that carried us through.”
Masuk took the lead 51-49 on a put-back under the boards, and by the time they scored again Pomperaug had wrestled away the momentum. Miree threw in a 3-pointer from the corner and Chase Belden (19 points) knocked down a pair at the line. Miree came up with a steal and took it the length of the floor to open up a 56-51 lead with 2:20 to go.
Trevor Rooney nailed a 3-pointer as Masuk cut the deficit at 56-54 before Pomperaug closed the deal. Josh McGettigan drove the lane for a bucket, and Belden converted a baseline drive. Miree finished it off, going 5 of 6 from the free-throw line for the 65-56 final.
Pomperaug was back at it Feb. 9 at Kolbe Cathedral as the Panthers looked to wrap up the top spot in the Colonial Division. Pomperaug was clicking on all cylinders as they ran roughshod over Kolbe 81-68. The Panthers, now 13-3, were led by Miree with 22 points, his second game over 20 and a season high. Pugliese and Belden checked in with 17 points each.
The Panthers are back in action Friday, Feb. 12, against Newtown in an away game that starts at 7 p.m.
You must be logged in to post a comment.